Life on the Margins
LIFE ON THE MARGINS Is not easy. Threats to Life and Limb The Competition Current Currency * Zhongguo - 元 - Yuan * Arab Union - ن - Najmah (replacing the Dinar, still used in the Arab Rim and by rebels and the black market in the Union) * British Commonwealth - £ - Pound * French Republic - ☆ - Étoile * Lagidze Confederation - ა - Abazi * Qianzhou - 元 - Yuan (Qianyuan when contrasted with the Zhongguo Yuan) * Sinha Reaches - रू - Rupiya * Tingwok Republic - 元 - Jyun * United States of Orion - $ - Dollar * The Free Worlds use a bewildering variety of currencies, of which the more common ones are the Eridani (€), the Aurigan Peseta (Pta), the Persian Rial ® and the Japanese Yen (¥). The Zhongguo Yuan is also widely accepted, at least in spaceports and space stations. * All Border planets have their own currencies (such as the Stratford Pound Ƶ), but the currency of their 'protector' nation is also globally accepted. Lawmen Pirates Natural Disasters Strange Tales from the Beyond Introduction The region beyond the Lagidze Gap is formally known as Translagidzia, but all self-respecting spacers just call it the Beyond. The Beyond is, in the popular imagination, a mysterious and downright unsettling terra incognita where almost anything can be experienced. In this case, at least, the popular imagination isn’t far off. Translagidzia is full of oddities, natural, artificial and inexplicable, and sensible spacers admit they never know what to expect when they blink into the Beyond. The Aigeiros Sphere The Sphere is a strange object, its outer layer composed of the synthetic element hassium, found drifting in deep space entirely by accident when the blink drive of a French scout ship shorted out a half-light year shy of its destination system. Ten years of effort have failed to open the sphere, and an odd electromagnetic field prevents any internal scans. The sphere is covered with as yet undeciphered writings that have a strong similarity to those found in the ruins on the planet Sati. Black Hole 17 This black hole, a blink or two beyond the farthest Beyond colony, is a complete enigma. Fourteen years ago, a Zhongguoan corporate probe circling the black hole at a safe distance picked up a faint transmission – a transmission coming from within the black hole. Since then, signals have been detected over a dozen times, all clearly coming from the black hole itself. This defies everything known about black holes, and no credible explanation has been put forward. The Blue Eyed Comet How about an object that was first mistaken for a comet, but later advances in science shows to be man-made object speeding thru space appearing to drag its comets tail. The most observant scientists have noticed that it's attracted ONLY non-natural space debris. No one knows how it selects bits to drag along, and how it keeps natural bits like ice balls & rock from tagging along. o one can catch it nor land on it yet, so they can't determine WHY it's here or what the objective is: mapping, collecting alien tech, random path of derelict space ship? The Clouds of Ylil Ylil (a name of uncertain origin, although it may have been taken from a short story in a Tingwokese cheapie) is an empty and generally uninteresting planet where the native 'life' is strange grey clouds that float around, apparently under their own or someone else's guidance. They seem to react, if not respond, to communication. Some of humanity's best xenobiologists have flocked to Ylil for nearly a generation, but are no closer to finding answers now than they were in the beginning. Desolation Alley Desolation Alley is the name for a group of eight star systems where all the worlds have been reduced to toxic hellholes by massive radioactive bombardment. The identity of the inhabitants of the planets remains unknown, as does the identity of the attackers. Neither side was human, of course, and the similarities between Desolation Alley and Diqiu after the Cull are just slightly unnerving. Even more unnerving is the fact that Desolation Alley was apparently rendered desolate in the last hundred years or so. The Drukh Fragments Drukh is a dim red dwarf star on the inward edge of the Beyond. It is surrounded by a fragmented cocoon of artificial habitats, the shattered remnants of what was once a Dyson sphere. Less than one in a thousand pieces of the sphere remain, and all of them have been twisted by a heavy bombardment of deadly gamma and microwave radiation. Nothing salvageable remains, and none of the planets inside the sphere can sustain any life, let alone intelligent life. If the Lagidzean Navy discoverers know more, they are keeping it a very closely guarded secret. FQY7783-A Nebula This otherwise unremarkable nebula not far from the Gap is a galactic curiosity. It is the apparent source of odd radio messages broadcasted in Morse Code. The code is accurate, but the messages themselves are almost always gibberish - random strings of unrelated words or, at best, phrases that barely make sense (such as "Good boy wash the windows", which was repeated eighteen hundred times over the course of six weeks). Repeated expeditions into the nebula have failed to find any trace of who (or what) sends out the strange signals. The Graveyard The Graveyard is the popular name for the Oph 162225-240515 system, consisting of a pair of brown dwarf stars forming a binary star. The system is also home to the wrecks of hundreds of starships of all known designs, and a few unknown (but clearly human) ones. The ships drift in loose orbits around one or the other of the brown dwarfs, utterly inert and abandoned. None of them show any signs of damage or have any bodies aboard, none have any functioning machinery or computers. No one has ever seen one arrive in the system, nor disappear from the rest of space. As far as anyone can tell, something happens to the ships, and then they appear in the Graveyard. A few have been removed, but no crew will willingly serve aboard a recovery from the Graveyard. Le Marché Le Marché is an interstellar marketplace. It consists of three large, hollowed-out asteroids that have been linked together and fitted with a single powerful blink drive. Thus equipped, Le Marché travels known space, usually the Free Worlds. It is rumored to have been built and operated by the notorious French spacer André Gauthey. Le Marché’s route is a very closely guarded secret, and access to the asteroid bazaar is extremely exclusive. Anything – literally anything up to and including planets – can be bought and sold at le Marché. Spacer rumors also say that le Marché has the best bars and the wildest parties in the galaxy. The Lost World The so-called Lost World is (was?) a strange, largely rain forest planet. First discovered by the joint British-Lagidzean Hawking Seven expedition in 2411, the planet was settled shortly thereafter. Explorers discovered a temple complex and entered it, finding many alien artifacts taken from various worlds all over the near Beyond. Then the planet disappeared - vanishing out of its orbit - and hasn't been seen since. The first ship to discover the planet had disappeared received coordinates for outbound travel transmitted from the outpost, but a later check with an in-system probe showed the planet had disappeared five minutes before the last communication could happen. There are some spacers who claim the Lost World (its name varies with the teller) was never discovered at all, but others claim to find proof in the perturbed orbits of the other worlds in system that something was there. The Old Man of Li Tieguai The Old Man (whatever his given name was, it’s long since been forgotten) is an incredibly old monk who follows seems to be a unique blend of Taoism and Protestant Christianity. He dwells in seclusion on the remote Chinese world Li Tieguai. Aside from his age, rumored to be nearly two hundred years, the Old Man is most famous for his strange visions, apocalyptic in character, delivered on a regular basis. He also reads palms and carries out other divinations for a small fee, but scornfully rejects anybody seeking to become his student. The Pyramid of Milz This strange structure, located on the distant planet of LTM 1103AM, is shaped like an inverted pyramid. Instead of rising into the sky, it cuts deep into the ground. From high above, observers have sometimes seen (and recorded) flashes of light in the depths of the pyramid, but repeated excavations have uncovered nothing that could be reflecting or transmitting the light. The pyramid itself is the only artificial structure on LTM 1103AM, adding greatly to the mystery. The Antédiluviens have tried to get permits from the Lagidzean authorities to study the pyramid, but have been consistently refused; a handful of bold Antédiluviens who tried to sneak in were arrested and then deported. The Sabre Signal Thirty years ago, the so-called Sabre Signal was discovered. This mysterious broadcast, picked up by the British deep space survey vessel Sabre, is said to show mind-bendingly bizarre images of an alien species engaged in unguessable activities. The exact contents of the signal, which has never been picked up since, remain a Commonwealth secret locked deep away in Baldwin Tower, the headquarters of MI6. Half the crew of the Sabre later ended up in institutions for the violently insane. Most of the rest simply disappeared. It is believed the origin of the signal is the star QZ-2208, over thirty thousand light years away and far beyond the Great Wall. Desolation Alley ruins.jpg|Desolation Alley ruins The Graveyard.jpg|The Graveyard Lost World ruins.jpg|Lost World ruins (artist impression) The Old Man of Li Tieguai.jpg|The Old Man of Li Tieguai Civilian Starships Georgian City-Ship Length: 6000 meters Crew: 20,000; 250,000 passengers Speed: Range: Armament: Space-going city. Passenger liner Length: 400 meters Crew: 200; 100-800 passengers Speed: Range: Armament: None Supertransport Length: 1200 meters Crew: 40 Speed: Range: Armament: 4 close-in rail guns The backbone of interstellar commerce. Carry millions of tons of cargo. While lightly armed, most supertransports carry sizeable numbers of well-trained and well-armed guards to protect their cargo. In addition, most companies arrange escort vessels to ferry their transports to their point of departure and meet them at their point of arrival. Only exceptionally large groups of privateers have any realistic hope of seizing a supertransport convoy. Sylphe-class light transport Length: 30 meters Crew: 4-10 Speed: Range: 25 light years Armament: 1 close-in rail gun Light transports are the most common class of transport vessel in known space. They are small, typically carrying between 100 and 1000 tons of cargo, and affordable enough to be within the reach of most ambitious spacers. Some have been bought and converted into star yachts by the very wealthy, others are given slightly upgraded armaments and put into service as pirate or smuggler ships and a very few receive complete overhauls to make them suitable as spy ships. One of the most common models is the French Sylphe. The Sylphe, designed early in the Franco-Eridani War as an orbit-to-surface troop carrier, is a very simple and robust transport. Over 20,000 were built during the Franco-Eridani War and the later War of the Dauphins. Since the end of the War of the Dauphins, thousands of disarmed Sylphes have found their way into the private sector. They are cheap and reliable, making them a very popular purchase among small corporations and independent spacers. Their only drawback is their relatively short range, although it is possible to install more robust blink drives. Xuanlong-class light transport Length: 38 meters Crew: 6-12 Speed: Range: 40 light years Armament: 1 close-in rail gun The Xuanlongs are an attempt by the Longqi Space Industry Corporation to edge in on the light transport market currently dominated by the Sylphe-class. Xuanlongs are larger vessels, have a slightly greater cargo capacity, much more comfortable crew quarters, a considerably longer range, and more advanced electronics. They are also nearly 40% more expensive than a Sylphe, and not nearly as easy to customize. So far, the Sylphe remains the king of light transports, but many corporate clients with deep pockets have begun to invest in fleets of Xuanlongs. Georgian city ship.jpg|Georgian City-Ship passenger liner.jpg|Passenger liner supertransport convoy.jpg|Supertransports in Convoy Sylphe-class light transport.jpg|Sylphe-class light transport Xuanlong-class light transport.jpg|Xuanlong-class light transport